Marked for Sam Stamatelopoulos
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Jun 2028
Position 1 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer from Melbourne Victory for Francis Colvey was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market19 Jun 2028
Alex Lewis hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Auckland City can pretend not to have heard.
Market19 Jun 2028
The fee is $140.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Canterbury United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
David Yoo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Auckland City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The mood at Canterbury United has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market19 Jun 2028
$140.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Canterbury United
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Thulani Mphela out for 104 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Canterbury United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Jun 2028
Bill Just hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canterbury United can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sam Stamatelopoulos was one of the reasons people came, and $140.0K does not replace that by itself.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
A fracture rules Thulani Mphela out for 111 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Canterbury United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jun 2028
Sam Tuiloma has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Canterbury United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Clayton Bell is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 16 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Canterbury United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Owen Cacace is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Bill Just in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Canterbury United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Canterbury United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Canterbury United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Feb 2028
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Joe Cacace falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Bill Just in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Canterbury United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch21 Feb 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Canterbury United, and 1 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Canterbury United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Owen Cacace falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
Matt Tuiloma hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canterbury United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Canterbury United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.